Welcome back Ante.
TV news video here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkpwjdOQAIg
more info...
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/peninsula&id=8803839
COYOTE POINT PARK (KGO) -- A wind surfer has been found alive after being stranded in the San Francisco Bay for more than three hours.
Just before 6:30 p.m. Saturday, 50-year old Ante Bujan got stranded off Coyote Point Park when the wind died down.
He was found a half-mile offshore clinging to his board shortly before 10 p.m. Bujan had been wind surfing with his son before he went out on his own. He was taken to the hospital for observation.

more info by Coyote boardhead:
"I was watching channel 7 KGO 11pm news Saturday night, I recognized familiar face of windsurfer from Coyote Point, grabbed Tivo remote to catch that news as file for Youtube “windsurfer found alive” (always sounds good), so maybe we all can learn something from the story, or what to expect.
Coyote ranger said today that search and rescue was initiated about 6:45 PM, the windsurfer Ante Bujan was found three hours later at 9:48 PM about a mile SE of Coyote Point, Ante had painful leg cramp, could not waterstart.
I can relate to that. It happened to me about three months ago, two miles out, cold water, flood tide, light wind, calf's painful cramp, and no masseuse in site. I had to make it on my own this time.

Last night (Saturday) Coast Guard sent boat and helicopter, Jeff from CG auxiliary was directing (Hi Jeff, thank you for your help).
Sheriff and ambulance was there too. I see smiling windsurfer on ambulance gurney, is he thinking about nurses (I would), or about going to heaven?
Does someone know how much ambulance ride costs, or how much does emergency visit cost?
Were you in a similar situation and said, "no thank you, I just want to go home to have pizza and beer"?
How to resist ambulance pampering? Please share your experience.

it's worth to know
"ambulance bill is $1800 for a five mile ride in California"
"in Indiana it cost $1800 for a 3/4 mile trip"
that's 1080 beers "Stella Artois", or 4 new sails, or...

Ante, glad you made it back safely.

Andre, I think you can refuse an ambulance ride if you are coherent and not in serious or life threatening condition. But in this case, they may have thought his leg was broken and/or maybe hypothermic so maybe serious enough? Regardless, you would have to refuse it, nobody will ask if you need it or not.
Of course, you may then need to call a cab to get back to your car, but you'll have alot of beer money left over!

To reiterate - this kind of thing can happen to anyone, regardless of skill level and equipment. Be safe out there and let's all take care of each other!

Coyote is an awesome spot, way better than Crissy in my opinion, but ... it is big! and there is nobody out there. It downed on me early this spring, out with a 3.7 in "the middle of nowhere" I could not see another soul for miles and it kind of freaked me out. And even in a more normal day, even if you sail with a buddy, you can get lost very quickly. 25/50 yards away somebody in the water is very hard to spot.

So now I never go out there without a VHF, and hopefully, if something happens, I would not have to wait 5 hours to be picked up!

I swam in to Coyote at night a few years ago after losing my board way outside. The firemen quit worrying about me when I walked out of the water OK. The paramedics insisted on "checking me out" in an ambulance, then asked if I was in good shape.....I said "OK, I guess, I just swam 2 hours". He said he heard something maybe strange with his stethoscope and that they should take me to the hospital to have my heart checked. I said thanks anyway, bye. He persuaded very hard but let me go.

coyote and 3rd are scary places once you get out a ways from the launch. the potential sailing area is probably at least 3 times that of crissy. it just keeps going and going and there is very little boat traffic. you're going along fine, fall in the water for whatever reason, look around and there is nothing but water in sight.

at least crissy has a coast guard station nearby at north tower along with a lot of commercial and recreational boat traffic.

I hope everyone knows how to relieve a cramp. The same concept applies to any cramped/spasming muscle: stretch it passively. i.e., relax it and pull it with other muscles. Calf: pull its toes upwards, preferably with that leg held straight or nearly so. Hamstring: put your good shin into your affected leg's calf or lay that calf or heel on your board or rig and use your hands to push the affected knee down to straighten and stretch the offending hamstring. Quads: use your hands to pull that heel up towards your butt. Tools at your disposal include your board, rig, other limbs, or a bud. Just find a way to stretch that muscle without contracting it and the cramp should resolve within seconds.

There are more subtle assists to the process; I'm sure Google or a therapist or doctor here can add them, but even those basics usually switch a cramp off. It may come back, but a good stretch stops the screaming and swearing and often gets us back to the shore for a proper, thorough stretch.

Better yet, we should stretch any muscle we tend to get cramps in throughout the day. Continued use of any muscle at partial flexion -- like our calves and hams are in a sailing stance -- promotes cramps. Just stretching those out occasionally helps prevents cramps. I try to remember to do that while walking in or out in waist-deep water simply by leaning forward into the next step while leaving my back heel firmly planted on the bottom with that knee locked straight.

As a long time 3rd ave sailor, I can attest to the points made earlier. The sailing area is huge, sailors are often miles away from anybody else and shit happens. Things break often miles from shore, and the wind can die suddenly, especially early and late in the season. Several things to mention.
1.If you cant swim your rig in if you are a mile from shore; then you probably shouldn't be a mile from shore.
2. The wind almost always dies often suddenly between 6 and 7pm; you need to be cognizant of this and try to head in earlier if the wind appears to be dying; you risk having to make a swim or long schlog if you continue way out in the channel.
3. If you plan on being in the channel at 6:30 pm, you need to be rigged for what the conditions will be like then. I will usually sail from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm. I will often rig a slightly bigger sail and a bigger board for the conditions that exist at 4:30pm; the reason being that the wind will often die off near the end of my session and I dont want to swim/schlog. You need to rig for what the conditions will most likely be; not what they were prior to you entering the water and the graphs will show you that at 6:30 the wind is usually dying off.
4.The local windsurfing community is amazing and wonderful. We all realize that we each could breakdown and we all help each other through these breakdowns. The only problem is when the wind dies and you are in the channel; you are alone and nobody can help you. If there is only 15mph in the channel; then there is no wind on shore and nobody will be able to sail out and rescue you. If you are going to sail in the channel; especially later in the day, you need to be able to swim your rig in if you are able, or have a radio or phone to get help if you are not

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